The Children of Earth
by AKissAndAGunshot
Summary: "Yesterday, we dared to fight. Today we dare to win." Humanity is a race spawned by cosmic error. Born from the body of a broken Prometheus, they are tiny, weak, and fragile; they are rejected and sentenced to death by powers beyond their ken. But the pride of humanity has no limit, and even in the face of God's judgement they do not bow. .::. a Rule 63 fic.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: this story has also been posted on AO3 as "Bastard Scions of a Cursed Planet." It started as just a Rule 63 fic, but I kept having "issues" with canon, so it is now officially an AU. The plot remains _mainly _similar, but you will notice differences.**

* * *

Ch1

**OPENING GAMBIT**

**X-X-X**

"Unidentified object in the ocean sector!"

"Confirmed on visual! Routing images to main monitors!"

Commander Gendo Ikari sat at his desk overlooking the massive ops room. Vice-commander Fuyutsuki stood at ease behind him.

"It's been fifteen years, hasn't it." It wasn't a question. He knew the time even before it had come, just as Gendo had.

Gendo did not move by so much as a millimeter from his brooding pose. "Yes. There's no mistake. It's one of them." His eyes, hidden behind his eternal mirror-shades, narrowed ever so slightly.

"The day has finally arrived: the time of tribulation."

Fuyutsuki walked away, to talk to the other military leaders in the massive ops room. Gendo, however, remained at his desk.

"Your death will not have been in vain, Yui..."

**X-X-X**

Shina Ikari hung up the phone, sighing in defeat. All the lines were down and it seemed they wouldn't return soon. The monorail tram had stopped, and she was two stations short of her destination.

_I guess I'll just walk it,_ she thought dejectedly. It would take hours, but it was not an impossible journey.

For a second, she felt she was being watched. She turned, and started. Her eyes widened.

A girl with azure hair and skin like salt was watching her from across the paved intersection...

Shina opened her mouth to speak, but the sudden take-off of a flock of pigeons interrupted her. When they cleared, the apparition was gone.

She looked around, wondering where the phantom might have vanished to, but she was rudely interrupted when the ground shook.

Her head snapped in the other direction, and the bottom dropped out of her stomach in uncomprehending fear.

A sixty-meter, in the flesh _monster_ was coming around the hill at the edge of the town. The black, masked leviathan was moving towards her at an alarming rate. Although it could not have been specifically hunting her, directionless panic cleared her mind of any thought but that of escape.

As the shocks increased, Shina felt her footing becoming unsteady. She turned in a futile attempt to run, but a particularly massive tremor threw her violently from her feet.

There was a screeching of braked tires across tarmac. Shina pushed herself from the asphalt to see a car in front of her, the door open. A purple-haired woman with sunglasses was in the driver's seat.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, Shina! Get in!"

"M- Miss Katsuragi? Is that you?" Shina shook her head, trying to clear the haze of the fall.

"Yeah, yeah-" she looked over her shoulder at the monstrosity moving ponderously towards them. "Just get in the car!"

Shina scrambled into the car, and Misato floored the gas pedal.

**X-X-X**

Sachiel narrowed its masked eyes, now bound within flesh, at the retreating car.

She has come, master, as you said she would. I was too slow to kill her.

But she is weak. Afraid. They are all the same - tiny, spineless, fearful. They are nothing before us.

Their master's voice carried silently across the endless gulf; silent as a shadow's scream, yet Sachiel heard every word.

Fear is good, Sachiel, but do not mistake fear for weakness. If she is truly a coward we have no cause for worry, but be wary, Sachiel; these beings are not as they seem. Weak as she was, their mother found a way to arm them. Were they truly weak and defenceless, they would have expired eons ago.

Sachiel turned its attention back to the aircraft buzzing around its body. It lashed out, destroying one of them instantly.

It was not as strong as some of the others, nor as crafty as its master, but it was determined not to fail.

**X-X-X**

Explosions pounded the massive creature as the car sped away from it.

"The U.N. army's gulf tank force has been wiped out. No matter how many rounds they fire, the missiles won't cause significant damage." Captain Misato Katsuragi was putting on a brave face, but she was clearly worried.

Shina was perplexed. "S- so, um..." she managed, "what_ is_ that creature, exactly?"

Misato smiled slightly. "You're awfully calm, given the circumstances," she said.

"Y- you think so?" Stammered Shina.

"Yes, you are. Now, that thing - yes, the immense monster - that thing is called an Angel."

Shina gasped. "What? It's, it's an Angel?" She couldn't believe the name would ever be applied to something as monstrous as the hideous black beast.

"No time to go into details right now," she said, her tone strangely calm. "All will become clear soon - "

At that point a HIT cruise missile detonated a mere six meters from the car, sending them pinwheeling madly and leaving a corkscrew of rubber streaks.

**X-X-X**

Shina crawled out of the car. Misato appeared to be ranting about how much repair work it would need, but Shina's attentions were focused on the leviathan that was approaching too quickly for comfort.

She stared, uncomprehending, at the colossal monster. The leviathan stared back.

It almost seemed to be studying her. She shivered involuntarily. The impression it gave was not so much malicious as it was coldly unconcerned; the monster was as far above Shina as a scientist was above the microbes on his glass slide.

It was certainly moving towards her. She turned to run as it loomed closer, but with a cry of "Shina! Duck!" She was knocked off her feet by a high-strung, purple-haired streak.

When she dared to look again, he was awestruck.

Another behemoth had appeared, moving argue a dead run. Its armored shoulder collided with the 'angel', knocking it off its feet. The evil black figure fell backwards into a building, which collapsed like cardboard beneath its weight.

"Th- there's another one?" Shina cried, panicking all over again.

"This one's on our side!" Shouted Misato.

Shina noticed that Misato didn't seem too reassured. Indeed, the purple Titan was nearly as frightening as the black beast. The armored giant was slimmer, and appeared to be shaped after a female form, but she was certainly no less imposing. If anything, the fearsome helmet design seemed even more malevolent than the white birdlike visage of the Angel.

The colossal humanoid reached down and righted the overturned car with a brush of her hand. Her armor made her look robotic, but Shina dismissed that thought. Her movements were too organic; her presence too alive to be a mere machine.

As the two massive figures fought their way down the street, Misato abruptly yanked Shina's collar. "We don't have time to stand around gawping. Get in the car, quick!"

Shina wasted no time jumping into the battered vehicle. As crazy as Misato's driving seemed, she had no desire to remain in the monsters' arena any longer than necessary.

As the vehicle sped away, Shina pressed her face against the rear window. "Our girl's getting beaten!" She cried.

And indeed, the purple mecha was not faring well. She had already been knocked to her knees, and the 'Angel' was preparing for another blow.

"I knew it," whispered Misato. "I knew Rei couldn't handle it. It's not the right one..."

**X-X-X**

"The pilot's in bad condition! Heart rate and blood pressure are dropping!"

"Psychic synchronicity is failing! Down to ten percent and falling!"

Gendo gritted his teeth. _Of course she couldn't handle it. Let alone the mismatch, she was already wrecked from the activation test. How much worse are her injuries now?..._ "Organize a maximum speed extraction down route 192."

The massive steel shutters beneath the Evangel slammed open, and the plate beneath descended - dragging the damaged war machine down with it. The shutters slammed shut again with finality.

**X-X-X**

Shina looked back again, puzzled. "The helicopters... They're all flying away. Why's that?"

Misato's eyes widened. "Shit. Shit! Tuck your head into your lap and brace for impact!"

As Shina watched, the world around the monster dissolved into a white star, growing larger and larger. Her face froze in shock and she pulled her head down frantically.

The shockwave hit the car with the force of a train, overturning it and blasting it off the road like a toy.

**X-X-X**

"You see that? That's the power of an N2 mine!" One of the more overenthusiastic generals in the ops room had jumped from his seat. "The Evangelions are no longer even necessary!"

Gendo might have been a statue, for all the reaction he displayed. He knew that the massive thermonuke would have done little more than minimal damage through the beast's infernal shield.

The wall of defensive energy that their enemy maintained been designated an 'AT field'. No matter the name, the otherworldy barrier could not be severely damaged by mere localized nuclear fusion - while that much energy might have punched a momentary hole in the shield, it could not have done any permanent damage.

"Hang on," said one of the technicians. "We're still waiting for confirmation of target destruction."

"A blast of _that_ force?" Laughed the loud-mouth. "Can there be any doubt?"

The technicians typed furiously at controls. "I'm picking up energy readings from the blast hypocenter!"

The obnoxious officer froze in place. "What?" He said, in shock.

"Restoring visual now..."

The screen blinked on, displaying the remarkably healthy-looking monstrosity. Its mask was cracked and it showed some minor burns, but it was clearly not even slightly fazed.

The other generals stared. "Our trump card..."

"We sacrificed a whole city, for nothing..." they looked utterly defeated. "It's a monster, a demon..."

Gendo smiled, lopsided and sardonically. If only they knew.

The high commander stood up. "Ikari, we've just received word from UN headquarters. Effective immediately, command authority of this operation is transferred to you.

"Let's see what you're capable of."

**X-X-X**

"We must field an Evangelion... however, Zerogouki is still in lockdown, potentially unstable. I do not think she can be risked." Gendo's eyes narrowed. "Despite the damage, we'll have to re-initialize Shungouki."

"But that's impossible... there is no pilot for her!" Came the outburst. "Rei is no longer-"

Gendo cut him off. "There is no need for concern. The reserve pilot has arrived." He was staring at an internal monitor.

Fuyutsuki was the only one who heard the rest of his musings.

"...or rather, the original pilot has arrived, to relieve the reserve pilot."

**X-X-X**

**X-X-X**

"Uh... Misato?" Asked Shina.

The purple haired NERV captain seemed lost in thought. "Yes, Shina?"

"Are you lost?"

"What? Of course not!" She said, hiding the facility map (which she did not understand in the slightest).

Shina lowered her head. "It's just, I think we've been through here at least once before..."

There was a hiss of opening doors.

"There you are!" A blonde-haired woman had appeared. "We're supposed to be on emergency schedule here, you know! Did you get lost again, Misato?"

"The - the facility's huge, Ritsuko!" Misato sputtered. "So what if I got lost!"

"We don't have time for this." Ritsuko turned to Shina. "Come. You are needed at the Evangel cage. Since Misato seems... Incapable, I will take you both."

**X-X-X**

The sign above the metal doors read, in blocky red letters, 'Evangel Cage 01'. The doors hissed open.

The room beyond was shrouded in darkness. From the echo of Shina's footsteps on the metal flooring, it seemed quite large.

There was a loud click, and the lights came on. Shina recoiled.

She was standing on a metal catwalk, suspended over a lake of strange red liquid. Not twenty feet ahead was the massive, terrifying visor of the purple valkyrie that she had seen fighting the Angel. She was sunk up to her shoulders in the liquid - it must have been incredibly deep.

And, facing the giant, was a figure Shina vaguely recognized.

Gendo Ikari turned to face his daughter. "Shina."

"Father." Shina's voice was flat and empty. "Why did you call me here, father?"

At that moment, a deep rumble sounded and the catwalk shook slightly. A voice came over the P.A. system.

"The Angel has reached the Tokyo-3 perimeter. ETA until it is directly above the geofront - three minutes."

Gendo turned his attention back to the girl. "Shina, this is Evangelion Unit 01... Shungouki." His voice was poised. "Right now, Shungouki is the only thing that can stop the Angel. But she cannot move without a pilot. That is why I asked you to come, Shina. You are the only viable pilot available."

"That... That's it?" Shina's shoulders were shaking. "That's the only reason you wanted me here? So you could _use_ me?" Her hands clenched into fists. "Did you _ever_ care about me?"

Gendo's expression did not change. "Shina..."

The pair stared at each other, father versus daughter.

Finally, in an unprecedented character-break, Gendo reached up and slowly removed his sunglasses. "Shina, I have done many things I am not proud of," he said. "As to having neglected you for so long, all I can say here and now is: I am sorry. But Shina, there is no time left."

There was another rumble, this one much louder.

"That creature... The Angel, Sachiel... It is coming here. It wants to kill everyone in the geofront. It wants to kill everyone on earth, in fact, but it will start with the geofront. If it is not stopped, the human race will be eradicated; every man, woman and child slain. Shina, Shungouki can stop it... But she needs a pilot."

Shina, however, was far beyond reason; she was seething with over ten years of bitterness. "No. No! Fuck you! I won't do it!"

A look of anger momentarily flashed over Gendo's face - and then it was replaced by a tired look. He sighed heavily. "... If that is how you feel."

Shina blinked, instantly suspicious.

Gendo turned back to face Shungouki, opening his phone. "Fuyutsuki? Is Rei awake? ... Then wake her up. The planned reserve is, eh, unavailable."

What was he playing at? Shina wished she could hear the other half.

"No, Fuyutsuki. I won't force her. ... Not only that, she's my daughter, Sub-commander. Like I said, wake up Rei. ... Well, she isn't dead, is she?"

Another pause. "Yes, I know it's cruel. I don't like it any more than you do. But if Shina isn't willing she won't synchronize. ... Yes, Rei is our only option - just get her here fast! Sachiel isn't standing idle."

A moment later, the cage doors opened again. This time, a medical gurney accompanied by four nurses came through. Shina noticed an I.V. drip being wheeled along with it.

The gurney came to a stop where Gendo and Shina stood. On it lay a girl of Shina's age, with striking blue hair and skin almost as pale as rock salt. She stirred slightly, displaying vibrant crimson eyes.

"Rei." It was Gendo's voice.

"Yes?" It was so soft as to barely be above a whisper.

"Shina will not pilot. You... You're all that's left. Can you do it?"

"Yes."

"Very good." Gendo pulled out his phone again. "Re-configure Shungouki for Rei again. Stand by for activation."

Shina's eyes widened as Rei pushed herself upright on skinny, bandaged arms, gasping at the pain. She tentatively swung her similarly wrapped legs over the gurney's edge. She didn't look capable of standing.

As Rei's foot touched the floor, there was another rumble, and a particularly strong tremor jolted the room. Several things happened at once.

Rei's gurney bucked and slid, throwing the injured girl off balance. On instinct, Shina dashed forward, catching Rei as she fell. She was light as a feather, even to Shina's scrawny physique.

The ceiling of the cage bent and cracked from seismic pressure. There was a flicker of darkness as several large flourescent light fixtures broke loose from their suspension and began to fall towards Shina and Rei.

And, above all, there was a titanic screech of ripping metal, and a deep splashing noise as something massive broke the liquid surface at high speed.

Then it was all over, before anyone had time to react.

Instead of the heavy lights crushing them, Shina felt only droplets of viscous fluid. She tentatively looked up.

Shungouki's titanic left hand, almost large enough to crush an 18-wheeler in its armored fist, was no longer submerged and restrained. It was held above the hapless girls, shielding them from the falling debris. In the background, Misato and Ritsuko were aghast the the leviathan had moved on her own.

Rei coughed. She was clearly trying to suppress the pain, but tiny cries of agony were forcing their way from her throat. Tears trickled from her tightly closed eyes.

There was no way a girl in Rei's condition could helm a war machine. Biting back her anger at her father, Shina carefully laid Rei down on the floor, then stood. "How... How can you make her do this?" she almost growled. "All right! All right, damn you, I'll pilot it!"

She half-expected her father to smile, but his tired expression persisted. "Thank you, Shina."

**X-X-X**

"Alright, Shina. Relax as well as you can."

Shina didn't think much of the suggestion. The 'entry plug', as it was called, smelled of electricity and blood. The fact that she was strapped to the seat might have been comforting in other circumstances - the straps were undoubtedly to prevent undue 'rattling' - but right now, they felt like a prison.

"Stand by for LCL injection."

Shina jumped as reddish-orange liquid began seeping into the plug. It had to be the source of the smell - the fluid reeked of the organic yet metallic odor of blood.

She squirmed as the liquid rose to her waist, then shoulders, then above her head. Her lungs began to burn.

"Shina, just breathe it in! LCL will supply you with oxygen better than air anyway."

Shina didn't much like that idea either, but after another few seconds her respiratory instinct forced the issue. With a cloud of bubbles, Shina sucked a lungful of LCL.

"Synchronicity at... 31 percent and holding."

Back in the control room, Misato whistled. "Gendo was right. Over thirty on her first time ever. She's a born pilot."

"Yes." Ritsuko was rigidly calm. "Thirty... Less than ideal, but not cripplingly low. She has a good chance."

"Mhm." Misato turned back to the control teams. "Ascension route confirmed. Eva unit 01 - launch!"

The massive gauss catapult boomed as the Evangel shot towards the surface of Japan.

**X-X-X**

Jarring.

That was the word, Shina decided, that best described piloting Shungouki. It was as if she had two bodies. Primarily she felt the cloth of her clothes, the swirling LCL, and the control yokes in her hands - but somehow she also felt the cracking asphalt beneath her immense feet and the hundreds of tonnes of hyperdiamond-fullerene armor hanging from her colossal frame.

And, simultaneously the most jarring and the most important, Shungouki's body was the one that responded to her movements.

In a way it was a great relief. There was no complex piloting process; Shungouki's movements were all directly translated from her own motor cortex. The match felt rough, however; there was a noticable loss of movement precision. She felt clumsy.

She suspected that was what the 'synchronicity' meant. Perhaps if she had a higher synchronicity, she might have finer control...

And then her reverie ended, as the catapult journey finished. The deployment platform locked into place with a loud boom, and Shina found herself - or rather, Shungouki - standing in the dark, evacuated nightscape of Tokyo-3.

And face to face with Sachiel. The monster was no more than eight blocks away - two or three steps, to a being of Evangel proportions. Misato didn't miss the fact.

"Shit, it's close! No time to deploy an Anti-AT rifle; Shina, you're gonna have to use the electroknife for this one. It's in your right shoulder wing!"

At the mention, Shina was aware of the weapon. It slid smoothly from the hyperdiamond pauldron, and she grabbed the hilt instinctively.

Sachiel turned, and its hollow eyes noticed Shungouki. It stepped forward, its massive arm extended.

Shina reacted without thinking, swinging the knife down in a sloppy but powerful slashing motion. Sachiel had not expected a violent response, and was unable to dodge.

As the weapon touched Sachiel's A.T. field, there was a beep and a crackle as the blade charged. Thousands of coulombs' worth of electrons poured into the blade -

And, with such a powerful charge difference, jumped. A thousand electric arcs burned through the A.T. field, its eldritch energies overcome by the raw force of a voltage in excess of a lightning bolt.

The electroknife drew a white line of crackling energy, too bright to look at, across Sachiel's torso. The Angel screamed a terrifying, freakish howl, and staggered backwards. A burned and smoking gash two meters deep ran from its left shoulder to its right hip.

Shina forced herself to exhale. She had cut the monster and it had bled. It was not invulnerable. She had a chance, no matter how small.

Unfortunately, she was not prepared for Sachiel to retaliate. The monster lashed out, grabbing Shungouki's arms, and pulled.

In that moment, Shina became acutely aware of what else 'synchronicity' entailed. Coincidentally, she also had a sudden surge of empathy for torture victims long ago in medieval Europe - specificaly, the ones that were racked.

Shina sucked LCL, the thick liquid muffling her raw scream as Shungouki's pain fed back into her body. Her arms were being pulled from their sockets, her muscles torn, her skeleton cracking as the Angel tried to rip the Evangel in half.

_I am strength to thy weakness._

"Shina!" Misato's voice registered only dimly. "Shina, snap out of it!"

Shina did not respond. She could not. She was lost in a universe of pain.

Then Sachiel's right arm swelled, growing even more disproportionate to its already inhuman proportions, and its right hand squeezed around Shungouki's triceps.

There was a crack loud enough to echo around the evacuated city, and Shungouki's hand went limp, bent to an unnatural angle.

_I am courage to thy fear._

Inside the entry plug, Shina bit her tongue.

"Shina! That's not your arm! Snap out of it!"

Shina coughed, dispersing streaks of dark red into the transparent orange liquid. She gagged reflexively; fortunately, she had not eaten enough to vomit.

Sachiel released Shungouki's arms, and Shina felt herself collapse to the pavement. The reprieve was short-lived, however, as the Angel reached down and grabbed hold of Shungouki's visor, pulling her back up.

Sachiel's strange arm-lance flashed, and Shina felt the impact like a jackhammer between her eyes. She screamed into the LCL, her body convulsing in agony.

_I am stamina to thy fatigue. I am armor to thy vulnerability._

The lance hammered again, twice. Shina's vision began to run with strange colors as her pain nerves began to overload.

The lance landed struck one final time, piercing Shungouki's helmet and finally breaking Sachiel's grip. The Evangel flew backwards, crashing to a halt against the far building. Blood spurted from the hole in her visor.

_I am pride to thy shame. I am defiance to thy judgement._

Shina went completely rigid as her body tried, and failed, to process the pain of the lance drilling a hole through her skull.

_No longer are you tiny, weak, vulnerable, afraid, ashamed. No longer shall you fear; no longer shall you suffer their judgement to pass. You made me as thy kin, and as thy kin I give you my might._

_I am the steel to temper thy iron._

_I AM EVE ANGELION._

Finally, mercifully, Shina's overloaded nervous systemshut down. Her vision went black.

**X-X-X**

**X-X-X**

Shina's eyes snapped open. The ceiling was white.

Her head felt like it had been hammered by a bolt gun. There were no bandages and it didn't feel bruised, but she had a deep-seated headache that didn't feel like it was going to go away soon.

She tried to push herself upright, but gasped at the pain in her right triceps. There was a glaring ring of bruising just above her wrist, right where Sachiel had crushed Shungouki's arm.

She... she couldn't be dead. It wasn't agonizing enough to be hell - and after that battle, she _knew _what _agony_ meant - and it certainly wasn't pleasant enough to be heaven. Heaven wouldn't have hospitals, anyway.

_But if I'm not dead... then I must have survived the fight. How is that possible? I blacked out. Did the Angel just ignore me once I stopped moving?_

"Ah, good. They told me you were awake."

Shina's father was standing in the doorway of the room..

"F- father..." she managed. "What... what happened?"

Gendo stepped forward and sat down in the inevitable visitor's chair. "Nevermind that, you were in an Evangel that almost got ripped in half. Are you alright?"

"Am I_ alright_?" Shina almost laughed, but was made viciously aware of the cuts on her tongue. ""When has that mattered to you?

Gendo removed his orange sunglasses, rubbing his eyes. "It _always_ mattered to me," he said at last. "I just... got distracted. For far too long. All I can ask is... please forgive me."

Shina's eyes narrowed. "I might consider forgiving you when you make up for_ nine years_ of _abandoning_ me," she said bitterly. "What happened after I blacked out? How am I alive?"

"Dr. Akagi is still working out why it happened, but..." Gendo sighed. "Shungouki went berserk. We're still not entirely sure what causes Evangels to lose control like that, and we're trying to remedy it. But in this case it saved you. She got back up and attacked the Angel like a mad beast."

"What?" Said Shina. "Why... why do you rely on such unstable weapons?"

"Berserking is by no means a common occurrence," came a soft voice. "My own unit, prototype Zerogouki, is the most unstable Evangel, and she has only gone berserk a total of five times in the twelve years of her testing regimen."

Shina twisted her head to see the newcomer. Standing in the door was the bandaged figure of the girl from the Eva cage. _Rei. Her name is Rei._She was clothed in a school uniform instead of a hospital gown, but still sported several major bandages.

"Rei?" Gendo turned. "Are you supposed to be walking?"

"My legs have sufficiently recovered. I am under orders not to strain them or walk for extended periods."

"...Alright, then." Gendo looked like he was about to say more, but his phone rang. "Commander Ikari speaking. ... Okay, I'll be right there."

He closed the phone. "Shina, Rei, I'm afraid I must cut this short. I will see you later." He stood, and strode out of the room.

A second later, Rei followed him, leaving Shina alone with her thoughts.

**X-X-X**

**X-X-X**

_The sky. The sky goes on forever._

_The earth is limited and the sky is infinite. The creatures we battle come to earth from the sky, through means unknown. Our original progenitors came from the sky to place us upon the earth. Supposedly the origin of all things is the sky. Adam and Lilith, darkness and light, evil and virtue, two sides of one coin, both originating from the endless sky. SEELE would have it that we are of the sky, like the Angels, and that our destiny in third imapct is to become one with the sky's will once more._

_But I know better. I know many things I was never intended to know._

_We are not creatures of the sky. We are the children of earth, bastard scions of a cursed planet, and it is the right to our life and our home that we battle for. For we are like rats to them, unwanted and unacceptable aberrations, creatures born without right or sanction, holding our tiny heads high as we defy the very gods that erred to spawn us. The earth is a tiny speck against the sun which is a tiny speck against the stars which are tiny specks against the galaxy which is a tiny speck against the universe which they control absolutely. And we, the smallest speck that is the earth, would dare defy the infinite sky. For it is in our nature; no matter how small we are proven to be, our pride will be greater than the sky can comprehend..._

_I hear voices by the exit..._

"... As I am... aware that you do not wish to share my house, you have been assigned to quarter with Captain Katsuragi. It is my understanding that she volunteered for this, so do not worry about inconveniencing her."

_Ikari-san is defying tradition to allow his daughter to be comfortable. Why does he do this?_

"... thank you, father." _And her tone is grudging... but is this not what she wants?_

"You are welcome, Shina. Goodbye."

I stepped out the hospital doors in time to see Captain Katsuragi's car driving off. The commander watched it go for a minute, then sat down on the stone steps by the entrance.

_He looks... tired. This is unusual. Ikari-san always moves with purpose. He is never idle._

"Commander?" I said softly as I approached.

He looked back at me. "Oh, hello, Rei. I didn't know you were being released today."

"I am recovered to the point of no longer needing intensive care," I quietly replied. "Why did you tell your daughter to quarter with the Captain?"

Ikari-san removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes. "She doesn't like me, Rei," he said at last. "As much as I'd love to pretend we're a family again... she isn't ready for that. Maybe she never _will_ be. It's my own fault... all I can do is try to make her as happy as I can. She wouldn't want to live with me - hell, I sleep in my office six days a week anyway."

I blinked. "The comfort of the Eva pilots is important to you?"

He gave me an odd look. "Yes. Very. You children carry us all on your shoulders. Your well-being is second in importance only to stopping the angels."

_Confusion. There is an incongruency between this information and the fact of the world..._ "If that is the case," I almost whispered, "why have I been quartered with Dr. Akagi for the past ten years?"

Gendo's eyebrows raised. "I'm... not sure i follow, Rei. Are you somehow unhappy with Dr. Akagi's accommodation?"

"Ritsuko..." _Neglects me? Pities me? Does not view me as truly human?_ "... does not have much time for others. She is very busy."

"And you never told anyone? For ten years?" Gendo looked shocked. "I always knew you were stoic, Rei, but that... that's a little far. I know you're capable of more than that."

_Why would I have told anyone?_ "It was the way things were," I replied. "I was given no indication that my circumstance should have been subject to change."

"Well, it should have been. And better late then never." Gendo opened his phone again, an uncharacteristic smile on his face as he did so. "Captain? I know you just left, but would you mind coming back here for a minute? ... Yes. How would you feel about one extra tenant?"

My eyes widened. _Is he talking about me? _I wondered what living with the captain would be like.

"Right. I'll have her things sent over tomorrow." He closed the phone. "Rei. Effective immediately, your new quarters are the Katsuragi residence. She will be here to pick you up shortly. Dismissed."

The commander stood, and began walking towards the Section 2 car that he had arrived in.

**X-X-X**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: CrossFaded: "Evangel" is a... call it a _nickname. _It was adapted because it was slightly more..._ complete_ than "Eva", and "Evangelion" is too many syllables to be commonly used.  
**

** USAvet: awesome, thanks :D**

**Every review helps me stay motivated, people!**

**X-X-X**

Ch2

**THE THRESHOLD**

**X-X-X**

**2004**

**X-X-X**

Though his white gloves were perhaps slightly odd, everyone wore sunglasses in Tokyo-3's perma-summer. Almost nothing about the man seemed exceptional. Nothing about him would make someone look twice.

However, to those that knew him, Gendo Ikari was anything _but _ordinary. Behind those mirrored orange sunglasses ticked a mind on par with Einstein and Tesla combined, but his genius lay not in any science. Though he was hardly ignorant of the biotechnology they worked on he knew well enough to leave the true intricacies to his wife, or Dr. Naoko Akagi.

No, Gendo's real talent lay in strategy, tactics, and the mechanics of power. He was the unanimous leader of Eden for that very reason: they knew he was best equipped to subvert SEELE and their apocalyptic vision of paradise.

His hidden earpiece beeped. _"Shit. You were right, Ikari, SEELE are well and truly suspicious of you and Yui. I can see at least two characters watching her out of a little more_ _than regular interest. A little rat tells me that your own route is clear, though. He's coming back here to take over this side of the operation."_

"You trust your son's talent quite implicitly, Simon," muttered Gendo. "I suppose you're bringing him up to take over the trade? Family business, as it were?"

_"Hey, Kaji's better than half the mice I have running around for you, and in a few years he'll be better than all of them." _Simon Ryoji sounded peeved. _"Don't underestimate people just because they're young."_

"Heh. If you say so," replied Gendo. "I want your best eyes on the café, hear me? Yui's been rocking the boat and I don't know how much my smoothing efforts have helped. I've been getting veiled hints from SEELE."

_"I'll do my best, Ikari. But remember my men are mice, not cats. We can't be soldiers for you."_ The voice vanished.

Gendo turned the corner onto a busy street. He could see the café where his wife was waiting just ahead. Good. Crowds. Crowds were far safer than isolation.

Upon reaching the café, Gendo sat down. "It is lovely to see you, dear," he said.

"Mm." She looked up. "I caught another tech asking about the setups around _Her._ Kim, this time. I had him transferred out. You might want to have Simon investigate him."

"Sure you're not becoming paranoid, Yui?" Gendo said neutrally. "That's two in one month. SEELE can't be employing _everyone."_

Yui raised an eyebrow. "You should know better than to say _that,_ Gendo. Any _one_ of them could afford to employ almost the entire U.N. military."

"Regardless. It would be both counterproductive and _extremely_ difficult for them to pocket _all _our staff." Gendo poured himself a cup of the tea Yui was drinking. "So, given your frustration with dismissing Kim, I surmise you're saying that you need a lab tech that can effectively be trusted as a member of Eden."

"Well..." Yui paused. "It would be useful to have a tech who I could tell about _Her. _Working solo or with just Fuyutsuki and Naoko is difficult. But you know that SEELE can't be allowed to learn of _Her_ existence. That's why we only talk about her in loud, crowded places like this."

"Heh. No problem." Gendo leaned back. "I know just the girl for you."

Yui's other eyebrow raised. "You're joking."

"No joke. Naoko's daughter, Ritsuko Akagi. According to Simon's report, Ritsuko is both a prime asset and trustworthy enough to join Eden. She's clever enough for the job; hell, you might find her giving _you _advice sometime."

Yui smiled. "This is why I put up with you, isn't it?" She said playfully. "Whenever I come across a problem, you just snap your gloved fingers and make it vanish."

Gendo sipped his tea, unfazed. "I like to think it's more than _just _my problem-solving ability that attracted you to me. But I guess I'll take what I can get."

"Oh you." Yui looked around nervously. "Look, there's a problem bigger than my lab techs. It's Shungouki. Using DNA from _her_ allowed the contact to initiate with a human pilot, but... You know they have a threshold synchronicity for activation? In the tests, we can't get past it with her. None of our methods for aiding synchronization are allowing the test pilots to pass the threshold. They just reach about 15% and stop, unable to move the Evangel."

"And you can't force synchronicity?"

Yui's eyes narrowed, and she shook her head. "Forcing it runs unacceptable risks. At best it would likely cause psychological trauma or minor brain damage, like it did with Nigouki. At worst... it could spike the synchrograph to above 400%."

"Hmm. You're quite right; that's not an acceptable risk." Gendo's fingers laced in his iconic brooding pose. "I don't suppose a finer integration grid between the entry plug and socket would help?"

"That was the first thing we tried, but it has no visible effect past 100 contacts per square centimeter, even below 15%." Yui leaned back. "I have... a theory, but it almost raises more problems than it solves - "

_"Yui! Gendo! We just spotted a sharpshooter! Get the fuck dow-"_

They both heard Kaji's voice, but Yui was a microsecond too slow to react. She pushed herself backwards, purposefully overbalancing the chair, just as the first gunshot rang out. A white-hot lance of pain ripped through her ribcage, entering on the left and travelling clean through.

Two more shots fired. Gendo heard one of them whistle past, inches from his ear, as he dived forward off his chair.

And then it was over, and there were screaming civilians everywhere.

_"You're clear! I got the fucker!"_ Said Kaji. _"Fuckin' idiot didn't watch his escape route!"_

Gendo stood, rushing over to his wife. "Yui," he said desperately. "Yui, don't leave me. Shake it off. Please. I can't win this alone..."

Yui coughed, and blood trickled from her mouth. "I'm... I'm sorry, Gendo. I think the bullet messed up some... unfixables," she managed. "Get... you want me to stay with you? I've got... a little time left. Get... get me into Simon's car and... get me to Shungouki's cage..."

"I... okay." Gendo picked up Yui as carefully as he could. "It's all right, everyone! I'm a doctor! Now please clear a path to the door!"

**X-X-X**

_Simon Ryoji's car, 9 minutes after the attack on Yui Ikari_

**X-X-X**

Had the car been any faster, its tires would have caught fire. Kaji was driving at the absolute limit of maintaining control.

Simon slammed his phone shut. "Well done plugging the fucker, Kaji. Gendo, I've just been talking to Red. We know this cat; red confirmed it with our Canary in SEELE's black ops section. This was definitely their doing - not that we didn't know that already."

From the back seat, Gendo looked up. "How good was he? Like, reputation-wise. Also, what kind of gear?"

"Good. He was very good, one of their best. Don't know why he made an amateur mistake like that, though maybe he just slipped. Kaji?"

The boy swerved to avoid a collision - at fifteen years old, it wouldn't be good for his licence to be checked. "Standard issue for JSSDF special forces, looked like. Even his clothes were U.N. I almost didn't ask Red to check him - I already assumed he was with them."

"This is good," Gendo said, though his smile was bitter. "If he wasn't elite, this would have been a warning. But they _wanted_ you to think he was U.N., which means they don't want to send a threat. That means they think Yui and I are working on our own. They don't know about Eden, they don't know about _Her,_ and now _I _know a little more about what scares them. Also, they wanted me and Yui gone without getting their hands dirty... so I bet they _also_ want to plant their own spies where we work, dear."

Yui laughed, more blood trickling from her mouth. "If... if Ritsuko's as good as you said, she might... be the ideal to plug the gap. We can't let one of their people replace me." She winced, then continued. "Listen... about this plan of mine... I think... I think the pilots can't interface be... because the... the Evangel soul is too alien. The_ flesh_ is compatible, except for Zerogouki, but... but the soul... there's no... no_ base_ human there, j... just _her_ and Adam... remember what Zerogouki said, that first time?"

"I remember." Gendo clenched his teeth. Yui, the woman he loved, was _dying by inches _and all she could talk about was science. How delightfully typical of her... "And you, you can let them_ touch?_ You've got an answer to that problem?"

"Y... yes." She shifted and her breath hitched. "Before I bleed out... load me into Shungouki... force the synchronization at maximum... assimilate me into her. Her... her soul will be my soul... her mind... my mind... Human and Angel." She coughed again. "But just as _She_ is the eternal mother... I think our... our combined soul will only 'touch' our children."

Gendo gasped. "You don't mean... you don't mean that Shina would have to pilot it? Or little Asuka, for Nigouki? But... they're children, not yet five years old! They can't... I can't ask them to be soldiers..."

Yui gave a sad smile. "They will not have... have to fight... yet, Gendo... not for perhaps... ten, eleven years... right?" She coughed again. The blood was brighter this time. "Just... promise me this... let Shina live normally... make her as happy as you can... because... because I know you'll... you'll be asking the impossible... the unforgivable... of her..."

Yui's eyes closed. Her pulse was weak.

_"Kaji?"_ Gendo yelled.

"We're here! We're here!" The car screeched to a halt. They were, indeed, right outside the Evangel laboratory.

"Just hold on, Yui..."

**X-X-X**

_Evangelion Shungouki's containment cage, Gehirn facility, 37 minutes after the attack on Yui Ikari_

**X-X-X**

"Father?"

Gendo's attention snapped downwards. _Of course. I left her here with Fuyutsuki when I went to meet Yui... a whole lifetime ago, now..._ "Shina! Shina, baby, come here."

Shina grabbed her father's leg. "What's wrong with Mom?" She asked. "It's like she's asleep, but she isn't, is she? There's _blood. _Is she hurt? Why are they carrying her into the tube? She normally walks."

Shina didn't like blood. She had fallen and scraped a knee about a month previously, and despite the pain it must have caused, all she could focus on was the blood... she was shuddering and sobbing 'there's _blood, _there's _blood on me_' over and over.

Gendo had never believed in lying to people to preserve happy illusions, but he could not bring himself to tell Shina that her mother was dead. He got down on one knee.

"Your mother is..." He gritted his teeth. "Yes, she's hurt. She's going to have to... go away for a while."

"Are you sure she'll be alright?"

Shina's wide eyes stabbed Gendo's heart deeper than even the Lance of Longinus could have, as he told the largest lie he hoped he'd ever tell:

"Yes."

**X-X-X**

_Gendo Ikari's office, Gehirn facility, 6 hours after the attack on Yui Ikari_

X-X-X

The remaining members of Eden had convened in Gendo's office, Yui's former workspace being cordoned off by police detectives.

"Simon, I want you to get at least one more Canary in SEELE," said Gendo. He had returned to his legendary robot mode; his laced fingers and tinted glasses showing no emotion. "We cannot allow them to make moves like this without warning. Get on it."

"You bet," said Simon determinedly. "Come on, Kaji." The pair exited the room.

"Right. Fuyutsuki?" Said Gendo. "Difficult times are coming for the Evangelion project and Eden. An hour ago, SEELE informed me that Gehirn is being dissolved, and all former members are going to become U.N. Military staff under a new organization labelled 'NERV', and the branch we will operate under will be here in the geofront. Now... Shina's already confused over Yui... and with the organization shifting, new staff and such, there will be a lot of risk in it for us. I can't allow her to be in danger. Fuyutsuki... is there anywhere we could send her, where she'd be safe? Somewhere isolated and forgotten?"

Fuyutsuki half-smiled. "I can think of one. An old acquaintance of mine, back when I was a professor, took off into the mountains to live like a hermit when he decided to retire. He's still up there, living a little ways from a village named... oh, what was it... well, anyway, that's about as far afield as I can think of. I'm sure he'd be happy to care for her."

"Mm. Make the arrangements. I want her on her way by sunset tomorrow." He removed his glasses, and sighed. "Now that I've dealt with the murder of my wife and arranged to have my firstborn child deported like a criminal, what's left on my agenda? Ah, yes. Ritsuko. Is she here?"

"She should be. I'll send her in." Fuyutsuki left the room.

Presently, Ritsuko Akagi entered the office. "You sent for me, sir?"

"Mmh, yes. Sit down, please." Gendo put his glasses back on, keeping absolute poise.

"I'm sorry about Yui, sir, I heard - " She began, but Gendo cut her off.

"I will dwell on that later. In the now, there is important business to attend to."

"I- yes, sir. Sorry."

Gendo regarded her for a minute, then stood, clasping his hands behind his back. "What do you know about Adam and.._. Lilith,_ Dr. Akagi?" he finally asked.

Ritsuko's eyes went wide. "I - I - I've been working with my mother on samples from Adam, but... _Lilith?_ Working on _her_ is far above my level of clearance, sir. I thought you had her locked under maximum security... even her _name_ is practically taboo amongst us under-staff."

"Yes indeed." Gendo's head cocked for a minute. "Dr. Akagi... I have a proposition for you. Have you ever heard of SEELE?"

Ritsuko looked confused. "No, I don't think so..."

"Quite correct. In fact, if you _had_ heard of them, I would have known it. Simon is very thorough in that regard. The fact you have no ties to SEELE was one of the qualifiers." His gaze turned back to her. "This is one of the few rooms I am certain is not bugged, so I can safely speak here. SEELE is an organization of very old, very rich, very powerful men. If I am not mistaken - and I rarely am - there are twelve in all. They view themselves as... as an Illuminati of sorts, harbingers of a new world order. Ironically, in creating their vision of a perfect world, they would destroy humanity... crowning themselves kings of a mountain of skulls."

Ritsuko's expression had gone from confused to worried. "Why... why are you telling me this?"

"Because, Ritsuko..." he paused. "Did you know _you _work for SEELE? Of course you didn't. But yes, Gehirn was founded by SEELE, and they control it. The Evangelions we work on are weapons - you knew that already - but they are also keystone pieces in SEELE's 'instrumentality' project."

He took off his glasses again, though his expression was still hard as steel. "The reason I am telling you this is, SEELE has an enemy. For the purposes of this meeting, I represent a resistance cabal. We seek to prevent SEELE's instrumentality, and to truly defend humanity from the invading Angels."

Ritsuko's eyes narrowed. "Do you have any _evidence_ of this... conspiracy?"

Gendo opened a hidden panel on his desk, and produced a folder. "How about the original photographs and research data from the contact experiment? The _real _contact experiment, not whatever you were told was going on in Antarctica. The experiment that triggered second impact and started luring the Angels here."

Ritsuko opened the folder, blinking in shock. "This... these results... _Adam?"_ She gasped. "These A.T. field readings... my god... _this _was what killed so many people?"

"Yes. That was the _real _second impact. And that was corrupted, an error; a mismatched union between human flesh and Adam... far weaker than the purge would normally have been." Gendo took his glasses off again, pinching the bridge of his nose. "What SEELE seek to initiate is third impact... and a _true_ version of it. A merging of Adam and Lilith... but a chained, controlled Lilith. You know who I mean by that."

Ritsuko paled. "I... But what would that _do?"_

"Well, if it were Adam merging with one of the attacking Angels, it would eradicate all life on earth down to the cellular level. Adam's A.T. field would erase all traces of life that another lifeseed had spawned." Gendo slid his glasses back onto his nose. "I believe they intend to merge Adam with Lilith, in fact, since she... eh, she was _our_ lifeseed."He cleared his throat and continued. "What would happen then is... hard to say. I believe the predicted result is the merging of all humankind into one omni-soul figure... a god born of the coalition of man. To my mind such a thing is an anathema. A destruction of the very things that define humankind."

Gendo's eyes narrowed. "I will not let that happen. I _will not _suffer the Angels to purge humanity, and I _will not_ suffer the megalomaniac schemes of those power-mad fossils. All I have left to ask you is... are you on board?"

Ritsuko hesitated, still looking at the file. Then her own eyes narrowed, and she looked up, meeting Gendo's gaze. "Yes. Yes I am."

Gendo smiled. "I'm glad. Welcome to Eden, Ritsuko Akagi."

**X-X-X**

**That's enough exposition for now. Next up: first day of school...**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Let's get this over with. Evangelion Unit One: "Evangelion Shungouki." Yes, I am aware that its 'official' pronounciation is "Evangelion ****_Shõ_****gouki," but for this story it will remain Shungouki, for two reasons. 1: I recently marathoned the Anime, and it sounded (to me) like Shungouki far more often than Shõgouki. 2: I really, really don't feel up to editing two chapters manually, and I'd likely make a mistake in future chapters anyway.**

**So, "Shungouki" she remains. If that's a problem, then, well... sorry. But I ain't changing it.**

**X-X-X**

**Ch3**

**CHASM**

**X-X-X**

Through the chaos of second impact, despite the presence of monsters infinitely more powerful than humans, despite political upheaval and excessive militarization, one constant has remained throughout the modern world: children go to school. Even in the fortress city of Tokyo-3, it remained true.

Shina was aggressively made aware of this fact by the ringing of an alarm clock inches from her head.

_School. I have to go to school now._ Shina cringed. She hated school. School meant other people her age. Interaction. Awkwardness.

"Pilot Ikari?"

Shina rolled over to see the blue hair and blank expression of Rei Ayanami. She was dressed in her school uniform, though her right eye was still bandaged and her arm was in a sling.

"Are you not ready to leave?" She said softly.

Shina rubbed her eyes. "It's 6:30," she groaned. "Why would I be ready to leave now? The school's only supposed to he half an hour's walk from here."

Rei blinked. "I have made an error in judgement. Please forgive me."

The enigmatic girl turned and walked out of Shina's room, leaving her alone with her thoughts.

However, the alarm clock removed any chance of actual introspection. Rolling her eyes, Shina pulled herself out of the bed.

**X-X-X**

"What did you mean by 'an error in judgement'?" Shina finally asked.

Rei did not avert her eye from the road ahead. "To which incidence do you refer?"

Shina blinked. "Uh... just a while ago? When we were at Misato's house. You haven't _forgotten, _have you?"

"I have not forgotten." She paused. "My error was following my old action pattern after a change had been made."

"Oh, okay. I, uh... I'm sorry," Said Shina at last. "I... I was kinda a jerk about it this morning. Sorry."

Of all the things said, _that _was the one that gave Rei pause. She halted as if her key had abruptly wound down, and Shina almost walked right into her.

"Why..." Rei almost stuttered. "Why are you apologizing?"

"Huh?" Shina blinked. "I said it just now, I was..."

"You gave your reason." Rei's voice never deviated from its soft monotone. "I do not understand why it applies."

"Why it - " Shina blinked again._ Is she... serious?_ "You can't - It's - It's not okay to just willfully act hurtful to people! If... I mean... if everyone was a jerk, no-one would ever be happy..."

Rei remained motionless, staring straight ahead. She barely even blinked.

"Ayanami-san? Hello? We, um, we still need to get to school..."

Rei started. "Y- yes." She began walking again, as if nothing had happened.

She did not respond further. Shina was left to wonder for the duration of the journey.

**X-X-X**

"Stand! Bow! Sit!"

Thus began the first of what Shina knew would be an unending cycle of torment. At best, it would be boredom. At worst... _better not think about the worst._ Shina reluctantly opened the laptop on her desk as the professor began droning about meteorites and second impact.

It took less than thirty seconds for the whispering to start. Shina mentally noted the new record. Any new child could expect trepidation, but Shina always seemed to attract the worst of it... crazy or impossible theories painting her as freakishly as a frankenstein monster.

_Wow, whatever conclusion they've jumped to must really be something. They're a step away from getting reprimanded for misbehavior._

A glare from the teacher silenced the classroom. Shina's attention wandered again, finally settling on the blue-haired girl by the window.

_She isn't paying attention at all. Like she's not even here. Just staring out the window, with her unbandaged eye... is this normal for her?_

_If it is normal... why is it?_

More whispering ensued. Then there was a hush, like the calm before a storm.

A notification blinked on Shina's laptop screen. _'New message.'_

_How bad could it be?_ Shina opened the message.

_'Were you the pilot of the giant robot?'_

Shina's breath hitched.

_'Y/N?'_

She stared at the screen. _Was this Ayanami's doing? _She glanced at the pale girl by the window, but she remained totally oblivious to the class, as if a vast chasm separated her from the others.

_'Y/N?'_

Shina blinked again. She doubted she was supposed to be candid about her experience with NERV. On the other hand, she hadn't been_ ordered_ to lie, and telling the truth was usually easier...

Her fingers shook slightly as she reached forward. _'Y.'_

The classroom exploded. Suddenly everyone was clustering around Shina's desk.

"It's true! I can't believe it!"

"Ohmigod! I knew it!"

"What?"

"It _was_ her! She's the pilot!"

"That is soooo cool!"

"How did they choose you? Was there a test or something?"

"Does it have a special attack or something?"

"Say... you weren't _scared,_ were you?"

Shina cringed. _Special attack?_ "It... I don't know."

"Well then, tell us this..." one of the boys said. "What_ was_ that black monster? Was it some country's secret weapon?"

_An easy question._ "I don't know that either. I don't know much about it... except that they called it an _Angel._ They didn't seem clear on what it was, either..."

"You think you're all that, huh." A new voice broke in. "You don't know nothin', do you?"

The class representative spun around. "Suzuhara!" She glowered. "You've missed an entire week of school without permission!"

"Sh- shaddup! That ain't none of your concern," He replied. He stepped over to Shina's desk. "Yo, new girl. Step outside. Now."

**X-X-X**

"All right, new girl." Toji cracked his knuckles menacingly. "My little sister was hurt _bad._ My dad and gramps have to work all the time, so I'm the only one who can go visit her, y'know?"

Shina blinked, her expression masked with the neutrality of years of practice. "I'm... sorry to hear that."

Toji's eyes narrowed in anger. "Oh, it ain't that I mind visiting her. But whose fault d'ya think it was that she got hurt, huh?"

Shina blinked. _I have nothing to say. Saying anything will aggravate him. Therefore I will say nothing._

"It's _your_ fault!" The boy yelled. "She was pinned under rubble from _your_ war machine crashing around! Don't think you're so hot just cause_ they're_ all over ya!"

_I was worried something like that would happen..._ Shina's gaze dropped. "I'm sorry."

The jock almost audibly snapped. _"You're_ sorry?" He raged, as his bespectacled friend attempted to restrain him. "You tryin' to make_ fun _of me?_ 'Sorry'_ just don't cut it!"

"What do you want me to do?" Shina's voice was emotionless - she had apparently abandoned any instinct for self-preservation. "Kneel and beg for forgiveness?"

She saw Toji's weight shift. She barely had time to relax her neck.

The punch knocked Shina off her feet. She managed to offset the impact by letting herself fall backwards, but it still stung.

"Toji, you fool!" The kid with glasses was admonishing him. "You can't go around decking important pilots!"

"Huh!" Toji seemed inordinately pleased with his display of violence. "Listen up, kid: next time you're in a fight in that thing,_ watch where you put yer friggin' feet!"_

Without another word, the two boys walked off, leaving Shina to stare at the sky. Apart from the bruise on her cheekbone, the sheer inertia was quite pleasant.

_I could get used to this._

There was the faint noise of footsteps in the distance, growing gradually louder. Presently, a bandaged figure stepped into her field of vision.

The single uncovered crimson eye looked down at Shina. Shina looked back.

"We have a synchronization test today." Rei's voice was almost inaudible. Shina's eyes swivelled to look at the blue-haired girl.

She was still massively injured. Though her legs seemed mainly undamaged, her arm was in a sling and her eye was still covered.

Shina opened her mouth to respond... and her voice died, as she looked into Rei's unbandaged eye. It was as if she was staring across an immense chasm; an infinite gulf of separation.

Rei's eyes were that of a child, but the subtle expression in her gaze was... old. Not old like a bent old man, but_ old,_ like the darkness between stars, carrying a weight of time that no child, no _human_ should know. In her monotonous, emotionless stare, Shina could clearly see the message conveyed: _you will never truly know me._

And then it was gone, so quickly that Shina might doubt she had seen anything at all, and Rei was walking away without another word.

**X-X-X**

"Are you ready for today's training?"

Shina gripped the controls. "Yes."

"Have you memorized the locations of the exit gates, emergency power sources, locations of armory buildings, and recovery sites?"

Shina ran through the checklist mentally. "Yes."

Ritsuko leaned over and pressed a button. "Okay. Begin induction mode!"

Shina twisted the yokes. Shungouki grasped the training rifle.

Back in the control room, Ritsuko and Misato watched as Shina drove the Evangel through the motions of a basic training simulation.

"How on earth did you get her back into the pilot seat?" Said Ritsuko. "Even Rei was hesitant after the first time Zerogouki went berserk. Well, hesitant for _Rei_, anyway."

"I don't know." Misato frowned, a worried expression on her face. "I'd have expected her to run away crying, but, well..."

Ritsuko pressed the microphone button. "Center the target and relax, Shina. Here comes the second one." She let go of the button. "What do you mean by _that, _Misato?"

"It's been a week since she came here. I don't know where she lived before, but whoever it was, they they took care of her for ten years... and they haven't so much as called once to see how she's doing."

"I suppose you're right." It was Ritsuko's turn to frown. "I wonder why?

"But as to why she's stayed, maybe..." Misato paused. "I hate to say it, but maybe she just... has nowhere else to go."

The sounds of the simulated battle echoed in Shungouki's cockpit. Shina barely noticed.

_I wonder when it started..._

**AIM center the target EXHALE pull the trigger**

_The... drifting. Like my mind and body are detatching, little by little. Whenever something bad, something painful happens..._

**_TURN_**** AIM center the target EXHALE pull the trigger**

_It's like there's another me; I just watch as it all happens to someone else, thinking "that's not me..."_

_It's... okay._

_I can live like that._

**AIM center the target EXHALE pull the trigger**

_I'll lock my heart away deep; so deep that nothing can tough me._

_If I do that, I won't have to feel the pain._

_Or the fear._

_Outside, or inside._

_I won't have to feel anything at all._

**X-X-X**

**A/N: Sorry for taking so long to upload. I began writing this at the beginning of midterm break, and my writing slowed to a crawl as soon as class began again. I've been twisting myself in knots between a 2.5-hour college commute (both ways) and juggling 4 difficult homework assignments every week.**

**After summer exams though, Imma watch Rebuild, and then write all night every night.**

**Ciao.**


	4. Chapter 4

** Blitzstrahl: Is he or isn't he? Sorry, I'm not allowed to give out spoilers for my own story... you'll have to wait and see :P**

** beta111, watchdog210: awesome, I'm glad you like it :D**

**X-X-X**

**Ch4**

**AVARICE**

**X-X-X**

**2001**

_Lab supervisor's office: Dr. Gendo Ikari, the Gehirn facility, 2:46 AM_

**X-X-X**

Gendo Ikari was brooding.

In fact, Gendo was one of a few rare people who_ liked_ brooding. He had honed this unusual affinity to an art form, so much so that it could practically be considered his natural state.

_I sometimes wonder if I am, at heart, a man from a bygone era._

He put down his pencil absent-mindedly and laced his fingers, leaning forward.

_Perhaps my talent would have shone brighter in medieval Japan, or renaissance Europe; those were the days when a real scheming bastard was truly appreciated. Days of blood and iron, where only the strongest, most cunning, and most ruthless ever made a difference._

People had even commented on his brooding pose before. 'The Gendo Brooding Pose.' It had a certain inane ring to it.

_Of course, had I been born centuries ago, I would not be here. My old gang network in Okinawa would never have brought me whispers of Antarctic experiments. I would never have met Yui, and would never have learned of SEELE's plans. It would have fallen on someone else bring down the traitors, and to forge humanity's sword for the battle against the heavens._

He sighed slightly, his eyes shifting to the folder on his desk.

_And, despite the stress of being the general in humanity's greatest war..._

_Better I, than someone else._

_Someone else might make mistakes. Someone else might get it wrong._

The intercom beeped. His attention instantly shifted - the device displayed 'Central Laboratory 1.'

"Gendo." It was Yui's voice. _She's still in the lab, at this hour...?_ "Come down here, I've got something to show you."

Gendo's eyes widened. He stood up and briskly strode from the office.

**X-X-X**

_Central biological lab 01, the Gehirn Facility, 2:51 AM_

**X-X-X**

The doors to the lab opened, and Gendo strode in, pulling on his lab coat as he did so. "So, something earth-shattering happened?"

Yui pulled away from the large microscope, gesturing to her desk. "It's there. The simulation, that is. I have a test model of the real thing here, but you'll see better on the simulation."

Gendo narrowed his eyes. "This looks like a model of a cell, but..." He opened some of the data readouts. "This is... and these... my god, you managed it. How did you get a workable sample? I thought the cells dissolve the minute they're removed from the host body."

"Since liquid nitrogen isn't cold enough to freeze LCL, I finally had the techs re-rig the cold room for liquid helium. We locked the subjects in it. They can take the cold, but the cells can't dissolve when all reactive liquid is rock-solid. We got our samples with a laser. You should have seen Naoko - she was giddy over this. Samples of multiple cell types from Adam, Lilith and_ her._ We've uncovered a gold mine."

"I imagine so," murmured Gendo. "You've isolated and documented the cell structures and DNA of an angel. What we could do with such things... This may be our key to winning the impending war."

"I'm aware. The weapon possibilities are endless," said Yui. "Microwave rays that burn angelic tissue but not human... tailored poisons, only toxic to angels... genetically constructed parasites..."

She trailed off. Gendo was staring into the distance, a faint smile on his face, and his brow was set.

"Gendo?" Yui asked tentatively.

Slowly, his smile widened. "... Yui, we won't need any weapons like that."

She frowned. "But... Gehirn's purpose is to research weaponry against the angels. Now that we finally have a good idea of their biochemistry, shouldn't we - "

Gendo turned. "Yui, you are the smartest woman I know, but you are a scientist." He repositioned his glasses. "Rest assured I mean that as a compliment. The world needs scientists far more than it needs people like me. But it means you do not always see what I see."

He sat back down in the chair, assuming his brooding pose. "I've been told I see things like a warlord... that everyone and everything is a tool or a sword to my mind. Maybe it's true. I see weapons here, Yui, but not what you think of them. Can you reconstruct stem cells from this data?"

Yui cocked her head. "Yes, of course."

Gendo stood up. "Then picture this, Yui: an embryo, an angel's egg, fertilized with human genetic material."

Yui's eyes widened.

"See?" He said. "The body of a human with the flesh of a seraph - what more could we ask for? What greater a soldier than a _human angel?"_

Yui was already scribbling notes down. "It will require so much work... genetic incompatibility workarounds; with samples from _those _two as well_,_ not so difficult... analysis of growth patterns... we'll need so much data, so much more information before it would be ready..."

Gendo wore a rare look of excitement. "This - _This_ is how we beat them, Yui, I'm_ sure _of it. No weapon we can forge could stand much chance against an AT field even a _tenth_ of what we saw in Antarctica. But where human strength cannot win, human greed stands a chance. We know their advantage and we must_ take _it. Make it_ our_ advantage. If we pull this off, the power of the angels will in our grasp... _human_ will have become _Elohim."_

Yui finally looked up from her notepad, a fierce gleam in her eyes. "Call Naoko and Fuyutsuki,_ now,_ and get them back here. Tell Naoko to bring lil' Ritsuko too; she might be useful, and we aren't working on our own stuff right now anyway. I want a project proposal ready for SEELE no later than 8:00 AM."

Gendo grinned. "Already on it." He returned to the desk and picked up the phone.

"And get another jug of coffee, too!" Yui called after him.

**X-X-X**

_Just outside conference room 4, the Gehirn facility, 7:24 AM_

**X-X-X**

Gendo walked up to the other three, pulling on his white gloves and adjusting his sunglasses.

The four founders of Eden regarded each other. Gendo and Yui Ikari, Kozo Fuyutsuki and Naoko Akagi. While the other three were far greater scientists than he, Gendo was their unanimous leader, for obvious reasons.

Gendo nodded towards the doors. "How long now?" He said softly.

Fuyutsuki checked his watch. "About five minutes."

Gendo's eyes narrowed. "Right. Yui, I want you to do the introduction. Act enthused - play up the good points. Naoko, I need you to be the bad cop for this one. Act concerned. Bring up every reasonable risk or disadvantage you can think of. I'll provide data to back up Naoko, and Fuyutsuki, you'll provide data for Yui. Everyone ready?"

"Why the split opinion, Gendo?" Said Fuyutsuki. "shouldn't we be for or against it, depending on how we think they'll react to our opinions?"

"Ordinarily, yes." Gendo adjusted his glasses again. "However, I have a hunch about what _they_ want here, and I need to hear their reactions to both arguments to scope it. If I'm right - and my hunches usually_ are _- it could change many things. I have to be sure, though."

Fuyutsuki raised an eyebrow, but he said no more. After all, this was the man who had - without any form of credentials to his name - fast-talked his way into Gehirn, infiltrated the contact experiment and escaped with reams of data, produced SEELE documents too top-secret for even the _emperor's_ eyes, and had _somehow_ even discovered_ her _before SEELE did. He had even managed to win the heart of Yui Ikari. Just as Gendo knew better than to doubt the others' academic talent, Fuyutsuki knew better than to doubt Gendo's abilities of intrigue. The man regularly performed feats that put _Jesus_ to shame.

"I repeat. Is everyone ready?" They all recognized the tone in his voice. Gendo had shifted into 'emperor Ikari' mode. No time to be personal. No time to be friends, to be_ equals_. When he set himself like this, there was no neutral ground. You were either his minion or his enemy.

The three other members of Eden nodded - they always eschewed salutes. "Ready," they said as one.

A second later, the door before them opened and an attendant stepped out. "SEELE will see you now," they said shortly, and left.

The four scientists-turned-conspirators stepped through the double doors into the darkened room.

After a second of total darkness, twelve monolithic grey rectangles appeared.

SEELE 01 spoke first. "Dr. Yui Ikari. You arranged this meeting to discuss a project proposal. You have the floor."

"Thank you." Yui stepped forward. "Following recent discoveries regarding angelic biology, we have drawn up a proposal. Its name is..."

Yui glanced at Gendo briefly. The name was a shameless taunt, hiding critical information in plain sight. Then again, he_ had_ chosen if himself.

_"... Project Evangelion."_

She paused, briefly, for effect. "Continue," said SEELE 07 quickly.

Gendo did not miss it. _Too quickly. They hide their faces because they fear me, but I can read voices too._

Yui continued. "Having finally achieved an understanding of angelic cellular and genetic structure, we believe it to be possible to create artificial angelic stem cells and blastocysts which can be fertilized with carbon-based DNA."

Fuyutsuki dutifully stepped in. "According to our readings, the DNA standard structure of a human matches that of an angel with 87.221% accuracy."

"That's good," remarked SEELE 02. "Better than expected."

_Oh is it__** really,**__ you old fool? Now __**that **__is food for thought..._

"Not an impossible difference to overcome." Naoko almost visibly shifted into gear. "However, the fine manipulation necessary will require specialized nano-equipment. Estimated costs for the necessary pieces run between the tens and hundreds of millions."

Gendo nodded. "Certain nanite devices, special chemical synthesizers and cellular-scale laser scalpels may not be available commercially. They will have to be constructed on-site at extra cost."

He felt like grinning with pride. _They're far better agents than they credit themselves for. They can act a part perfectly._

"We've spent similar sums on Gehirn before," said SEELE 01. "Do not worry about your budget."

Yui continued, unfazed by Naoko's naysaying. "Thank you, sir. Nevertheless, the potential benefits in this case are extreme. _Evangelion_ proposes to experiment with growing an angel embryo fertilized with human DNA, with the end goal being a human-allied creature with angelic abilities."

Fuyutsuki spoke up. "The most prominent hope being an A.T. field, obviously," he droned. "With its own AT field, it could cancel out the near-invulnerable shield that we predict. However, a strength and stature comparable to the samples we have would be a useful result as well."

Not missing a beat, Naoko turned over a page on her clipboard. "From the data we have on angelic organisms, this will require major change. We will need industrial-scale facilities on-site, possibly comparable in scale to _Saturn V_ facilities, as we have no way to predict the size of the finished product. Much larger refrigeration, industrial laser cutters and custom-built surgery tools designed for immense organisms, and excessive power supplied to run all necessary equipment. Costs will certainly run into the billions."

"A hefty sum," commented SEELE 11.

"Nevertheless. It seems feasible," said SEELE 04. 01 and 02 grunted agreement.

_Yes, I'm sure it seems __**very**__ feasible, doesn't it...?_

Naoko pretended to scan the report again. "Furthermore, as with all living creatures, we cannot predict the behaviour of a finished product. With a creature of such theoretical stature, loss of control could cause severe damage."

SEELE 06 grunted. "An acceptable risk." The others murmured assent.

_I knew it._

Gendo had heard enough. _Those devious old bastards... _But now he knew what they were thinking, more than they would ever want him to know. He had the upper hand now.

"Submit the complete requisition forms in the usual manner," said SEELE 01. "All reasonable requests will be granted. _Evangelion_ will be one of our highest-priority projects."

_Highest priority. Imagine that._

"Thank you, sir," said Yui.

"Dismissed."

**X-X-X**

_[ERROR: UNABLE TO FIND ROOM ON SCHEMATICS - PLEASE RE-CALIBRATE], the lower levels of the Gehirn Facility, 8:20 AM_

**X-X-X**

"Well?" Said Naoko. "I know you read something big. You've been gleeful since we left the conference room."

Gendo frowned. "Nonsense. I haven't broken composure once."

Yui pushed herself up on one of the ambient scanners and sat on the edge. "That's how we can tell, Gendo. You normally loosen up a_ little_ after meetings. Spill it."

Gendo sighed, vaguely contemplating the inert figure in the center of the cave. "I should thank the Kami that I'm not married to any members of SEELE," he muttered. "Am I really that easy to read, myself?"

He removed his glasses, rubbing his eyes. "Yes, I read something big." He peeled the gloves off. "They responded quickly. They wrote off astronomical costs and cataclysmic risks as insignificant. They just gave us approval like _that, _when they should have asked for more data, and they should have deliberated and gotten back to us. They were _enraptured. _They wanted this. They were _waiting _for this."

The three of them frowned. "What do you mean?" Said Fuyutsuki.

Gendo turned. "They _expected _us to come up with this. I dare say this was probably their plan all along, perhaps even the entire purpose of Gehirn. Whatever the reason, they are incredibly, inordinately interested in the success of _Evangelion._ They're practically drooling over it."

Naoko's frown intensified. "You're right... and I don't like being led on like a child. _Why,_ though? Why do they care so much? Powerful though the _Evangelion _products are bound to be, focusing single-mindedly on weaponry would doubtless produce more efficient killing machines."

"Perhaps they value a versatile product that can accomplish more than just the slaughter of megalithic monsters?" Yui suggested.

The other three just looked at her.

"Okay, okay, I get the point. Just a thought."

Gendo went back to regarding the cave's centerpiece. "I don't know why. I don't know what hooked them - Naoko's right; as far as efficient weaponry goes, an _Evangelion_ isn't even on the top 10. Something's got them focused on this, though, something_ big._ Clearly we need more information than we have, and that means more spies. I don't think I can manage enough new recruits on my own... and getting them into SEELE..."

"You've managed more spies than this before, haven't you?" Said Yui.

"Back when I ruled the Okinawa gangs? I may have been the commander, but I didn't personally manage the spies; that was..." He trailed off.

Fuyutsuki shifted. "That was who?"

Gendo frowned. "Simon Ryoji," He said. _"The King of Mice_. I don't know what he did after I broke up the gangs to investigate Gehirn. I wonder... perhaps I can still reach him. He'd be a valuable member of Eden. If anyone can augur the information we need out of SEELE, it's Simon's mice."

Yui jumped back to the ground. "Naoko, Kozo, let's get back to the lab. If we're going to requisition factory-sized equipment, we should have some prototypes to move into them. No time to waste."

The three scientists exited the cave. Gendo remained, brooding.

He looked into the dark brown eyes of the woman who sat in the center of the limewater flows, illuminated by the single ray of light which pierced the tiny crack through the miles of rock above them. A faint draft blew a strand of her auburn hair loose.

"Am I doing this right?" He asked, eventually. "Am I making a difference, or just deluding myself into thinking I can halt the inevitable?"

The ferns swayed softly in the draft.

"I just began an effort to bring forth monsters like the earth and sky have never seen... do I truly know what I am doing? Am I just an errant child, trespassing in god's realm?"

He looked up, then looked back down. _"Fuck _god's realm," he said at last. "If this is hubris, _so be it;_ pride is what gives humanity strength. I will ride above the clouds on the backs of angels, and reach out to tear down the very walls of heaven. _Watch me."_

The woman simply stared back; silently, unmoving, as she had done for eons no mortal could fathom.

**X-X-X**

**X-X-X**

**2002**

**X-X-X**

_The test cage, new Gehirn Facility, 10:45 AM_

**X-X-X**

Naoko strode briskly onto the secondary catwalk, buttoning her lab coat more against the cold than out of respect for protocol. "Sorry I'm late," she said. "Ritsuko's working on a thesis proposal and I had to check over it. There's some impressive work there. Pretty soon there'll be two 'Dr. Akagi's around here."

"Finally remembered your maternal instinct, did you?" Yui rubbed her eyes. "Sorry, we've had a difficult morning. You didn't miss anything – the test was delayed half an hour. First the lifeline's explosive bolts checked bad, then a coolant pipe burst. But we should probably be ready to start in about five minutes."

The two women looked up at the colossal figure that was the centerpiece of the room. Even though she was just a prototype, she stood in excess of sixty meters, and was immersed up to her ribcage in chilled LCL.

Unit 00 was truly a sight to behold. _Evangelion Zerogouki_. She was clad only in the lifeline harness and rudimentary steel greaves; enough to make her appearance 'safe for work,' but leaving little to the imagination. Surgery scars adorned significant portions of her torso, and her wrists, waist and ankles were bolted to the wall of the cage with massive hyperdiamond shackles.

A darkened visor had also been placed over her eyes, at the behest of the work crews. She seemed to 'sleep' – or at least, stop moving and relax - when her LCL bath was chilled to below 80 Kelvin or so, but apparently, even when hibernating, sometimes she'd open her eyes and watch the workers. It 'creeped them out.' A small concession to make.

"I suppose I shouldn't be surprised she's so human-looking," said Naoko. "I do wonder why her hair turned out blue, though... and those red eyes. We hardly used any material from _that_ one, and mostly just as an intermediary – I didn't think it would be enough to manifest in her appearance."

Yui sighed. "You know what DNA's like. Each instruction pair has effects everywhere. It was likely a product of epigenetic reaction – I doubt natural gestation conditions for an Evangel even _exist,_ and if they do, we could never have reproduced them."

"Mmhm." Naoko regarded the immense valkyrie for a minute. "If we're testing the lifeline shutdown system, is it really safe to be out here on the catwalks?"

Yui smiled. "I like getting close to my work."

Naoko sighed. "Yui, the last time we activated her, we had to _drown her in liquid nitrogen_ to calm her down. Five technicians were killed when she ripped apart the primary catwalk _like a piece of paper._ Two more couldn't get out in time and were frozen to death."

"Which is why we designed the lifeline shutdown."

Naoko closed her eyes. She did _not_ need this kind of stress. "The lifeline that _may or may not_ work, as decided by _this very test?"_

"Exactly."

"Yui, you are asking to get killed. These are _dangerous creatures_ we have created. Please stop taking them lightly."

Yui rolled her eyes. "Look, we are on the secondary catwalk. Zerogouki is bolted to the wall and the hoses are ready to cool her off if at _any_ point it seems like the loss of the lifeline will not shut her down. The door is right behind me. If she gets far enough to destroy the primary catwalk I'll get out of here, okay?"

Naoko folded her arms. "I suppose that will have to do. Mind if I stay out here with you? She may have gotten your looks, but she's my daughter too, you know."

"Be my guest."

The P.A. Speakers crackled, and Fuyutsuki's voice came through. **"Lifeline test beginning now. Clear the primary walkway."**

As workers began scattering from the main catwalk, Naoko looked back up to see the two men overseeing from the high and dry observation deck behind them. The glass of the deck's windows was strong enough to stop a 6-inch shell. She suddenly felt very exposed before the titanic warrior.

"**LCL draining initiated."**

Massive bolts popped in the cage's walls, and the noise of rushing liquid filled the air. The transparent red liquid began to lower.

"**Body temperature increasing at a smooth 10.7 degrees per second."**

"She's heating up fast," said Yui softly. "I wonder if the lifeline system around her core is causing that."

A muscle in the Evangel's shoulder twitched.

"**Zerogouki is approaching the threshold temperature of 340 Kelvin. Stand by for wake-up call."**

An extremely loud gasp echoed through the cage, and the LCL – now at knee level – rippled as Zerogouki shivered. She began breathing with a steady rhythm.

Gendo's voice replaced Fuyutsuki's. **"Mornin', sunshine. And how are you today?"**

The Evangel shuddered again, and coughed. Naoko and Yui put on ear guards.

"_Nnnnn..."_

Ordinarily, a whimper would sound pathetic. Only an Evangelion could make it sound threatening.

"_Nnn... Rrrrr..."_

"**Sleep well?"**

The Evangel shook her head, as if trying to clear sleepiness.

Then she roared, exposing rows and rows of teeth that would put a _Tyrannosaurus Rex_ to shame. Even through the industrial-strength ear guards, the sound was deafening.

The roar dulled to a growl, and she began to writhe, pulling at her restraints.

"**Guess not. Ejecting lifeline in five - "**

With an ear-shattering crack, the shackle on Zerogouki's right wrist broke. Chunks of hyperdiamond-fullerene splashed into the LCL below as she raised her arm.

"**Four - "**

Zerogouki grasped the visor on her face and crushed it in her palm. Naoko felt like chiding the overgrown girl – her hand must have received dozens of cuts from that stunt.

"**Three - "**

Her vision unimpeded, Zerogouki's blood-red eyes surveyed the cage. Two scientists caught her eye.

"**Two - "**

She lunged as far as she could, given the restraints still wrapped around her other arm and her torso. Her hand just managed to grasp the primary catwalk.

"**One - "**

With a screech of ripping metal, Zerogouki tore down the primary catwalk. As the ruined structure fell into the LCL below, a large chunk remained in the Evangel's hand.

She pulled her arm back. With a start, Naoko realized that she intended to _throw_ the wreckage at them.

"**ZERO! Sleep tight, darlin'!"**

The explosive bolts went off with a loud bang. The massive, detached lifeline fell from behind the Evangel, joining the rest of the debris at the bottom of the cage.

Zerogouki halted, dropping the wreckage, as the implanted electromagnets released their hold.

"**KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"**

She howled bitterly. She could _feel_ the spring pushing back, ripping her core from the heat feeds and severing the artificial contacts that the scientists had implanted. Without the magnets clamping her core in place, she could not heat her body.

"**AAAAA! AAAA! AAAAAAAAAAA-"**

Condensation began to fill the bottom of the cage as the supercooled LCL was pumped back in. Zerogouki slammed the back of her head against the cage, howling in agony. Once. Twice. Three times...

Then she was still, and hung limply from her restraints, her fingers twitching fitfully in her sleep. The liquid slowly rose back to its original level.

"**Body temperature at 309 Kelvin and falling. Zerogouki has been successfully deactivated."**

Yui tentatively removed her ear guards, as Gendo and Fuyutsuki appeared on the platform behind her. "That went better than I expected," she remarked.

Naoko smiled, though there was a sardonic edge to it. "Indeed it did," she said. "Though, if the Evangel's body is very hot before the lifeline is removed, I think it may take them several minutes to cool off before they go back to sleep."

"No matter," said Fuyutsuki. "The principle is sound. I believe we should incorporate the lifeline into all further units – Evangelion 01 will be grown enough for the implants in a few weeks."

Gendo's eyes narrowed. "Yes, the principle is sound," he said. "We know how to turn them on and off now. Next comes the hard part..." he looked up into the heavy eyes of the sedated Evangel.

"... controlling them."


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: well, now that I've seen all three of the (current) Rebuild movies, I have no excuse to not update. Of course, you can now expect my "Frankenstein's Canon" to be not only butchered from ****_Neon Genesis,_**** but a mixture of butchered ****_Neon Genesis_**** canon and butchered ****_Rebuild_**** canon. With plenty of my own fanon inserted. Crazy.**

**Of course, I guess if you've stuck with me so far, I must be doing something right...**

**X-X-X**

Ch5

FEEDBACK

**X-X-X**

Rei Ayanami sat idly on the thin antenna, her legs swinging over 200 meters of empty space. Far below, in the valley, she could see Tokyo-3, and further out – on the shore – the desolate ruin of Tokyo-2. A little way away, she could just make out the school she had come from.

She had made it up the mountain quickly, and climbing the radio broadcast tower had been trivial despite her disabled arm. She had plenty of time. Lunch hour was not even a quarter over. Most of the children would be eating and talking away.

_I prefer the radio tower. No-one ever comes here. Here, I am alone, and I can see for miles. I feel like I can see all of Japan. It reminds me of my purpose._

Her thoughts drifted to the newest pilot, Shina.

_I do not understand her._

_She knew I could pilot in her stead, but despite her aversion, she elected to pilot Shungouki against Sachiel. She stepped in to spare __**me**__ the pain. It seems anomalous that she would care for my well-being. She did not know me, but she was willing to put my comfort before her own._

The birds chirped. The antennae hummed. Rei did not bother to listen to whatever was being broadcast.

_If she knew what I am, she would surely not feel such concern for me. No human would attempt to form a friendship with me if they knew of my real nature. Perhaps she should be informed... it is not clear if doing such will make her more useful to the commander, or less._

_I have received no orders on the subject._

She bit her lower lip. _Perhaps,_ she thought, _I shall attempt to reciprocate for now. Shina needs friends. If she rejects me later, it will hardly matter; my own emotional state is moot. Supporting other pilots must be a priority..._

Rei blinked. Was she... _rationalizing?_

Then she blinked again, from a completely different feeling. This one, she had felt once before... just before the third angel had attacked.

Her unbandaged crimson eye rippled with rainbows of color as an A.T. field appeared over it. She watched. She listened. Somewhere, she knew, there was something out of place...

_There._

It was coming. She heard its voice. There was no time to lose.

She quickly stood, balancing on the thin rod, and jumped.

**X-X-X**

_I HAVE COME._

_WHERE MY BROTHER __**SACHIEL **__FAILED, I MUST SUCCEED._

_MY TASK IS TO UNITE WITH THE INTENDED FATHER. I MUST PURGE THIS PLANET OF THE IMPERFECT LIFE IT HOLDS, AND BRING FORTH NEW LIFE; PURE LIFE, THAT IS NOT ABHORRENT IN THE EYES OF THE MASTERS._

_THEY ARE WEAK, AND WE ARE STRONG. MY TASK WILL BE SEEN THROUGH. HEAVEN'S WILL CANNOT BE STOPPED._

_I AM __**SHAMSHEL.**_

_I AM THE LONELY WARRIOR OF HEAVEN._

**X-X-X**

_I wonder what would happen if I leaned forward a little more._

Shina idly looked down from the railing. The concrete was five stories down. If she hit head-first she wouldn't even feel it.

_Would anyone notice my passing? Would anyone care?_

She looked at the other kids, eating their lunches in the schoolyard below. They were happy, laughing, even with the fear of the angels hanging over their heads.

They had families. Parents that loved them. Not mothers that had died for their work, and fathers that loved fighting secret wars more than they loved their children.

_The only reason father would notice my death is because he'd lose his pilot for that... robot, monster, I don't even know what it is. Regardless, I could probably be replaced without difficulty._

_Is there__** any**__ reason for me to stay alive?_

_Misato tells me that is 'not a healthy attitude,' and that piloting like that 'will get me killed.' Did it occur to her that I might not care? If I die saving Tokyo-3 from these creatures, at least my death will have __**accomplished**__ something..._

There were footsteps on the roof behind her.

"Huh! Up on the roof all by her lonesome... the pit'cher of a tragic heroine!"

Shina turned to see the symbiotic pair, Toji and Kensuke.

"You two guys again." She sighed. "What do you want with me?"

Toji practically exploded. "Moron! What makes ya think _we'd_ want anything from _you?"_

"Oh... okay, then," Shina said. She blinked. "I... must say, you must have been very bored indeed to check up on me for no reason."

Toji's eye twitched at the dismissive comment. "I may not have a _reason_ to be talkin' ta you," he growled, "but one thing's for certain! _I hate your guts! _That hotshot attitude of yours, that little miss innocent look on that mug of yours..."

"So you came up here to pick a fight with me." Shina's expression was deadpan. "Fine, if you don't like my attitude, I'll apologize."

Toji blinked. That wasn't what he had expected.

"But." Shina narrowed her eyes. "But then it's _over._ I can't afford to worry how you'll feel about it every time I do something. I can't be consistently bothered by complete strangers... Or a total_ flake."_

With that, she turned and headed for the exit.

"Hey, what the fuck!" Toji yelled after her. "You can't just walk away after sayin' something like_ that!"_

Shina turned, her face marred with a full-on glare. "What? You want to punch me again?" She met his angry gaze. "That's fine by me, if you think you can actually _do_ it."

The eternal cicadas chirped in the background.

Shina leaned forward slightly. "You gonna? Gonna do it? Don't hold back; I bet you could break a bone or two. Punch me like you_ mean it._ Like you're trying to_ kill_ me." She pointed to the safety railing. "You want to push me off the roof? Fine, but _do it."_

There was a moment of silence. Toji's eye twitched.

"Fine!" He yelled at last. "But you asked for it! Don't go crying to anyone afterwards!" In the background, Kensuke banged his palm on his forehead. "If ya wanna get pulverized, you came to the right guy, Ikari!"

Toji stepped forward and grabbed the front of Shina's shirt, heedless of Kensuke trying to stop him. He lifted her off her feet.

There was a very_ intense _moment, punctuated by the dull sounds of flesh being struck. Hard.

Shina staggered backwards as she was abruptly released, barely staying upright. When she looked at the scene again, she almost gasped.

Kensuke had been thrown backwards clear against the railing, and looked at least as shocked as she was. Toji was decked flat on his back, attempting to groan and gasp for breath at the same time.

The reason for Toji's gasping was a pale hand clamped down on his throat, surrounded by a bright azure haze. Toji was no weakling - and based on that, judging by the effects of his struggling, the grip was stronger than a steel clamp.

A pale, upside-down face framed with cerulean hair came into Toji's view. The one unbandaged eye glowed a bright crimson, casting a baleful red light over Toji's face.

"You have assaulted an Evangelion pilot." Rei's voice was its eternal soft tone. "You are also suspect of a previous assault on the same pilot."

Toji stared back, unable to speak. Rei's hair began to rise as the blue energy aura on her arm grew brighter.

"This has been your final warning."

The pale girl released Toji's throat and stood up in one fluid motion - which looked rather odd, given her still-bandaged arm. "Pilot Ikari." The glow faded from her eye and hand.

"I - y-yes?" Shina stuttered, caught off guard.

"An angel is approaching. Soon NERV will detect it and issue an emergency call." She fixed her eye on Shina's, the deep stare drilling into her soul. "I will see you there. Goodbye."

Rei turned abruptly and, quite literally, ran for the exit. Shina gawked for a minute at how strange it seemed to see Rei Ayanami acting at all hurried, but then her brain caught up with her legs. "Wait! I'm coming, too!"

After a minute, Toji stood up and dusted himself off.

"Hate to say it, man," said Kensuke, "but I think she managed to slip out of that one."

"Bite me!"

**X-X-X**

"Target confirmed on visual - it has breached territorial waters. All personnel prepare for level one combat!"

Shina was slightly impressed._ Captain_ Katsuragi was far cry from her slovenly civilian alter ego. In the war room, she was a confident and competent leader.

"Put Tokyo-3 into primary battle mode. Arm and prepare all available conventional defences."

"Forty-eight percent of in-place anti-aircraft and artillery is functional, captain. All available units are armed and ready."

"Very good. Shina!"

In the cockpit, Shina started. "Y- yes, captain."

"Are you ready for launch?"

Shina cringed slightly, but then swallowed the gut reaction. Fear did not matter.

"Shina?"

Fear was not real. Pain was not real. If she died, at least she would have died _for_ something.

_"Do you hear me, Shina?"_

Her eyes narrowed. "You don't have to_ yell, _Misato." She gripped the controls tighter. "It's not like I'm _deaf _or anything."

Back in the control room, Misato narrowed her eyes. "Apathy, then insubordination," she muttered. "She'll get herself _butchered_ if she fights like this."

Misato closed her eyes briefly. "The next angel had to attack while the commander's away..." she sighed. "Sooner than we expected."

"They wait fifteen years to show their face, and then they follow up in just three weeks." The tech grimaced.

"Yeah, they just don't consider what's convenient for us," said Misato. She smirked darkly. "Women hate their kind."

On the screen, the creature floated forward, heedless of the missiles hammering its AT field. "What a waste," sighed Fuyutsuki from the observation deck.

"Let them have their fun," said Misato. "Whether it's effective or not, some people just aren't satisfied until they've burned off a stack of ammunition."

One of the hotline phones on the central control desk rang, and the tech picked it up instantly. He turned back to Misato. "It's the JSSDF, captain. They're demanding we launch an Evangelion to combat the attacker."

Misato smirked almost cruelly. "Oh, please." She looked back up at the screen. "As if I wasn't going to launch her anyway."

**X-X-X**

_Geo-shelter #334_

**X-X-X**

"Damn! They're doing it _again!"_

Toji looked over to where his friend was fiddling with his camcorder. "Doing what?" He asked lazily.

"See for yourself!" Kensuke twisted the aerial on the camcorder's receiver and handed it to Toji, its tiny playback screen activated.

The channel was playing a slowly panning view of mountains, with a text overlay:_ At noon today, a special state of emergency was declared for the Kanto district, centering around the Tokai region. Stay tuned for updates._

"See? Just _words_ again. They never _show_ us civilians anything." Kensuke folded his arms, exhaling with frustration. "And this is such a big event, too!"

"You... uh... really get off on this stuff, huh?" Toji rubbed the faint red marks on his neck. "I dunno, man, after what that Ayanami chick did, I dunno if I even _wanna _know what they're up to."

Kensuke did not share his friend's concern, however. "I've got to see it," he muttered. "Even if it's just once. We might not get another chance."

He turned his head quickly. "Toji," he said urgently.

"Eh? What?"

"Let's sneak out!"

"_What?"_ Toji almost yelled. Kensuke hushed him quickly, but he was still incredulous. "Are you _nuts?_ We'll be _killed,_ yo!"

Kensuke scoffed. "As if we might not be killed right _here?_ You saw the damage the first monster caused." He straightened his glasses. "Besides, don't you sort of have an _obligation_ to watch this battle?"

Toji blinked. "What? What's dat supposed t' mean?"

"That robot of hers protected us _all_ in that last battle, man; we would have been _meat_ without her. You didn't even think about that before you decked her. Don't you think you owe her one?"

Toji folded his arms. "Nope!" He said defiantly. "You just wanna manipulate me inta goin' out there. I ain't goin'."

Kensuke gave a smug smile. " 'The lady doth protest too much, methinks." When Toji shot him a glare, he shrugged. "What can I say, man? It sounds to me like you're starting to feel bad for punching her."

"WHAT?! Why, I'll show you - "

Before Toji could speak further, Kensuke clamped his hand over his friend's mouth. "Ah, Class Rep! Hikari! We, uh, have to go to the bathroom!"

Hikari did not look back. "Huh! You should have thought of that before. Well, make it quick!"

Kensuke quickly dragged Toji away before his struggling friend could break free.

**X-X-X**

"Okay, Shina. You'll be given a JSSDF Mk II 'Empyrean' rail rifle, just like in the training simulator. According to our projections, that _should_ be enough to break down the A.T. Field in a few shots. Once the field is down, aim for the core. Ready?"

Shina's expression was cold. "Ready."

Misato straightened. "Evangelion Unit 01: Launch!"

The magnetic coils of the gauss catapult pulsed, and the Evangel shot upwards.

After a mere few seconds of ascent, Shina felt Shungouki slam to a halt. The delivery structure opened, and Tokyo-3 lay before her – complete with the immense, freakish insectoid angel.

As she stepped forward, Shina raised the rifle. "Center the target...and... _fire," _she whispered.

She pulled the trigger, and the railgun jumped in Shungouki's hands. There was a loud _crack_ of displaced air, and a flash of plasma, as the fifty-kilogram steel slug left the barrel at Mach 10. An answering boom sounded as the projectile dumped 270 million Joules of kinetic energy into an impact zone no larger than a dinner plate. The rainbow ripples of Shamshel's A.T. Field shimmered in the air.

Shina's expression hardened into a frown. She fired again. And again. Smoke and glowing, gaseous metal filled the air. Before long, the entire street was obscured.

Shina moved to fire again... and hesitated. There was no response from within the smoke. _Is it dead?_ She thought briefly. _Surely not... that was too easy._

"_Shina!"_ Misato's voice broke through. "Sensors are still picking up the angel - hold fire and _retreat!"_

Shina's eyes widened as two coiling, white-hot lines of destruction whipped their way out of the smoke cloud. She twisted sideways and dropped Shungouki into a crouch as the whips lashed through the air where she had just stood. Her rifle was not so lucky; she had been holding it a little too high, and it was neatly sliced in half by the coiling tendrils.

She looked up. The fortified building tops around Shungouki had been slashed short, and were collapsing. The whips had cut through the reinforced concrete like it wasn't there.

**X-X-X**

"Shina, we were wrong! The Empyrean rifle isn't strong enough to crack that A.T. field!" Misato yelled. "Get to an extraction point for retreat!"

On the screen, Shungouki rolled sideways, avoiding a vertical attack, and quickly got to her feet. "Working on it," said Shina, her voice strained. "It's blocking the path to the main routes..."

"Shina, you're unarmed!" Misato gazed at the screen helplessly as the Evangel stared down the monstrous insectoid.

"I can't get to the extraction point without going through it!" The girl yelled back.

Misato checked the map. "There's an outlying extraction point about 30 miles south. Head there immediately!"

"That'll take too long!" Shina dodged another attack.

Misato raised her eyebrow, a cross between surprise and anger on her face."I gave you an _order,_ Shina!"

**X-X-X**

"Orders..." unseen in the entry plug, Shina's face twisted into a glare. She felt a surge of an unfamiliar emotion, one she suppressed as a rule. It was so infrequent it was almost alien.

_An __**order.**_

_I'm being __**told **__what to do._

_Everyone's always __**telling**__ me what to do._

Shina was angry. _Very_ angry.

_Always, always __**orders,**__ "do this," "do that," never given a __**choice,**__ never given a will of my __**own,**__ never asked for my __**opinion! **__Only summoned when needed, discarded when no longer useful, a mere tool for my father! The first and the finest, chained down and subject to the will of others, just as I was an eternity ago! They put me here to be their warrior, but they will not let me fight as I see fit! I am __**Shina Ikari,**__ not some tool to be used! I am __**strong!**__ I am __**proud!**_

**X-X-X**

Maya spun her chair around. "Captain, Senpai - look at this!" She called, worried. "Her synchronicity is at 39% and rising, and the link safeties have been triggered – and they've failed! Something blew out main diodes 0032 to 0256 _and_ their backups – Shungouki is feeding back into the pilot! The feedback is also scrambling radio reception and –"

Misato's head snapped around to look at the diminutive tech officer. "And in plain Japanese?"

Ritsuko's eyes narrowed. "The link circuits are what allow the pilot's mind to command the Eva. But with the diodes blown, the link can go both ways. Not all the diodes have failed – Shina's mind is not at risk of overload yet – but it seems Shungouki's temperament is beginning to feed back into Shina."

Misato gritted her teeth. "Perfect. So instead of calm, non-confrontational Shina, we have a proud, angry, aggressive Shina with a superiority complex, who believes herself infallible and invulnerable. And we can't contact her." She glowered at the purple figure on the screen. "This is _not_ going according to plan."

**X-X-X**

The angel lashed out with one of its whips.

Shina saw it coming. Shungouki stepped sideways – and reached out.

Shina let out a strained cry as the whip coiled around her outstretched hand and Shungouki's armor began to burn. She pushed past the pain, pulling on the whip.

Had the angel been humanoid, the sudden stagger would have looked comical. Shina yanked the glowing tendril a second time, and the angel was pulled up hard against the Evangel.

The insectoid lashed out with the other whip, finding a chink in the Evangelion's abdominal armor. Shina coughed. Then she screamed.

Through the pain, she was dimly aware of a blinking light at the top of her heads-up display._ External power disconnected. ETA to temperature threshold: 4:59._

"Perfect," Shina growled. She pulled on the whip once more – and craned Shungouki's neck forward.

It was like biting down on a burning coal. A red streak in the orange LCL floated past her eyes, but she ignored it, clamping her jaw tighter until the whip snapped under the Evangel's teeth. She pulled the glowing coil – now _her_ glowing coil – free of the angel.

_Now, I have a weapon._ Shina grabbed the angel's 'face claws' with Shungouki's other hand and hauled, throwing the monster over her shoulder. She gasped as the tendril that had been impaled through her stomach was pulled free.

She turned, painfully. The angel had landed on one of the hillsides facing Tokyo-3, perhaps half a kilometer away. Shungouki took two steps forward, and lashed out with the whip. The angel was struck with the burning cord before it could get to its 'feet,' and Shina _saw_ the A.T. field flicker.

The angel staggered upright. Shina growled again. That wouldn't do.

Shungouki leapt forward. The hapless Shamshel was knocked back to the earth as three thousand tonnes of armored Evangelion landed on it with the force of a meteorite.

_It's clearly outmatched, but it will not give up. Even though father told me I must never run away, even __**I**__ know better than to die on the hill of a lost cause... _Shina gritted her teeth._ They're automata. Perfect slaves, they follow one direction unquestioningly and ignore all other input... how __**dare**__ they! Spineless, selfless, __**humble,**__ compliant in every way to their master's wishes, yet they refuse to submit to a one such as __**I!**__ They fight to the death for causes not even their own, out of sheer __**subservience...**__ it makes me sick!_

Shina pulled the whip taut, garotting it across the angel's upper body and clamping it down on the hillside. Shamshel wasn't dead yet, however, and its other whip flicked forward – wrapping around Shungouki's helmet.

Shina instinctively jerked her head, trying to free herself from the scorching tendril. Shungouki's aegis-like hyperdiamond armor was faring better than the steel or concrete had, but Shina could tell that it was beginning to fail. Her memory momentarily flashed back – _the awful white lance, slamming into her helmet between her eyes, the utter agony of her proxied skull being hammered open like errant walnut -_

With a panicked cry, Shina wrenched her head backwards. The helmet cracked as the massive warrior ripped her cranium out of the angel's grasp, and most of the smashed hyperdiamond was left fused to the whip. The horn, visor and crania were torn away, leaving only the damaged jawpiece and the gorget.

**X-X-X**

As one, the command crew gasped. Only Fuyutsuki and Ritsuko, who had seen the evangel's face before, remained calm.

Misato raised her eyebrow, although the rest of her expression was set. _It may be hard to maintain the official stance that the Evangelions are robotic mecha, after this._

Shungouki looked deceptively human. Her two purple eyes had an unusual hue, but otherwise seemed normal; her nose, mouth, cheekbones and ears all seemed to have been placed with the correct proportions in mind, and her black hair, while cropped short, did not seem abnormal. Her snarling lips revealed blade-like teeth more vicious than any shark could boast, but that was not what truly set her apart.

It was not the unusual glint of her eyes, the curl of her lips, the inclination of her brow. It was not the tilt to her leviathan posture, the way she held herself. All of the factors combined into a whole greater than the sum of its parts.

Shungouki radiated a terrifying aura that not even the Angels themselves could match. The sheer _malice_ of her expression was enough to make the most steely-nerved human cringe with fear.

_You made my body, human._

_You made my flesh, seraphim._

_You made my soul, nephilim, too angelic to be mortal, too mortal to touch the sky._

_From the day I was born, I was tainted with your sin. I am the outcast of heaven, the fallen hyperion._

_You made me, the whole of myself, __**demon.**_

**X-X-X**

Shina faced off with the angel. Both were standing upright, about a hundred meters from each other. Shamshel had its intact whip ready to strike, and Shungouki was similarly armed. Both were bleeding.

_If it strikes my head it's over._ Shina ground her teeth in frustration. _No __**way**__ can I pilot through that kind of pain. Come on, Shina, you foolish girl... you thought you could do better than Misato; you aren't getting out of this on anyone's skill but your own_.

There was a beep from the corner of her heads-up display. Her eyes flicked sideways and down – _two... two humans?! They're all supposed to be in shelters! They'll be __**meat**__ out here!_

Shina acted without thinking. She stepped forward, shielding Shungouki's head with her arm, and feeling the tendril wrap around the armor. Satisfied that the white-hot coil was secure, Shina grabbed it – and hauled.

She felt Shungouki's muscles strain as she applied hard centripetal force, swinging the angel in a wide arc. At the apex, she let go, and the cord pulled free in a shower of plasma.

Shamshel was thrown two full kilometers, slamming heavily into another hillside. It appeared momentarily stunned. Shina crouched Shungouki down and slammed the entry plug's manual eject switch.

**X-X-X**

While Kensuke had been avidly recording everything, Toji was too busy cowering at the thought of being flattened by a hideous alien or a colossal hyperdiamond boot. However, both the athlete and the military geek were petrified with fear when, after single-handedly hurling the angel away, the purple giant crouched down towards them – putting her imperious visage far too close for comfort.

In their panicked state, neither of them noticed the hiss of hydraulics, nor the heavy clank of shifting armor plates. What they _did_ notice was the dark-haired, strangely clad girl climbing up onto the Evangelion's shoulder.

"_You_ two? I should have known." Shina shook her head – for some reason, disengaging the synchronization interface had given her an _immense_ headache. On the plus side, she seemed to be thinking a lot more clearly, despite the pain. "Get up here! Into the entry plug! You won't be safe anywhere else!"

Without hesitating, she jumped back down. Kensuke heard a splash, and groaned. "There goes my camera..."

**X-X-X**

With the Evangelion momentarily offline, it was dark inside the entry plug. Shina waded over to the pilot's seat, idly wondering if a less abrupt ejection would have allowed the LCL to drain. _Probably,_ she decided. There were other things to worry about.

"In a minute, the plug is going to be full of breathable liquid," she called back to the floundering boys. "Holding your breath will just make your lungs ache before the inevitable. Ready?"

"NO!" The two voices yelled in stereo.

"Too bad," she muttered to herself. She scanned the secondary control board, realizing that she actually had no idea how to re-engage the entry plug. _Surely it can't be too bizarre... _her eyes wandered over a few of the larger and more obvious switches and buttons.

_'Manual Launch Override.' Sounds worth a try – _

The three occupants of the cylinder pitched backwards as a _boom_ of a one-use solid-fuel rocket flared, and the plug was forcibly slammed back into the Evangelion.

Shina ignored the yelps of surprise and fear as the LCL flooded back into the plug. The display flickered its usual plethora of noise imaging, then resolved once again into the world through Shungouki's eyes.

A red timer blinked at the top of the HUD. '00:31'.

_Cut off from my commanding officer, probably in hot water for direct defiance of orders, and I have to defeat an otherworldy monstrosity within __**thirty seconds**__ or we all die. No pressure. _Shina cringed slightly._ What was I __**thinking,**__ disagreeing with the captain like that?_

Then there was no time for thought. Shamshel charged.

Shungouki charged.

Shamshel's whip coiled around Shungouki's already damaged arm. Bereft of armor, the incandescent lash bit straight into the raw, pale flesh. Foul smoke began to rise.

Shina could have sworn she felt her teeth crack, so hard was her jaw clenched. She had no _time_ for pain. _**Pain**__ is not real! I have to __**win! **__Victory at any cost!_

Shina pulled. The wire bit deeper, but she ignored it, save for the faintest of strained cries. Shamshel was, once again, pulled up against the Evangel.

With it so close, Shina finally got a good look at it. Its head was ugly as hell, all insect hair and mouth-claws and... eyes. Two tiny, beady eyes, set into the top of the head.

Shina met the angel's gaze. She could hardly read the alien expression, but she didn't need to. She knew it was afraid.

Shungouki pulled her other, still intact arm around, closing the fingers into a fist.

A fist with Shamshel's other whip wrapped around it, and aimed straight for the angel's core.

The sound of the red orb cracking must have echoed all the way to Okinawa.

**X-X-X**

"Heat below threshold level; power offline. Unit 01 is inactive."

Misato's eyes narrowed.

"The angel's core appears inert; no sign of life." Maya stared at her readouts. "Blue pattern decaying... and..."

The bridge crew held their breath.

"... Gone. It's... gone."

Finally, Misato relaxed slightly. "Very good. The fourth angel, 'Shamshel,' is officially terminated. Send the recovery crews out to retrieve Shungouki, and the angel's corpse too, if possible." She frowned again. "And once you have the pilot out, bring her straight to me. I need to have _words_ with her."

**X-X-X**


End file.
